A judge has sentenced a former Illinois state child welfare worker to six months in jail in connection with a 5-year-old boy's death. The Chicago Tribune reported that Lake County Associate Judge George Strickland also ordered Carlos Acosta on Thursday to contribute $1,000 to a county advocacy center and perform 200 hours of public service.
FILE - Former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employee Carlos Acosta appears in court inside Judge Robert Wilbrandt’s courtroom at the McHenry County Courthouse, Sept. 24, 2020, in Woodstock, Ill. A judge sentenced the former Illinois state child welfare worker to six months in jail Thursday, June 6, 2024, in connection with a 5-year-old boy’s death.
The boy died in April 2019 after his mother, JoAnn Cunningham, beat him. She is serving a 35-year sentence for his murder. The boy’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., was sentenced to 30 years in prison for covering up the killing by burying the boy’s body in a field. Police took AJ into protective custody in December 2018 after an officer noticed a large bruise on the boy’s hip. The officer had visited the boy’s home after his mother called police to report her ex-boyfriend had stolen her cellphone and a drug used to treat heroin addiction.Detective says daughter’s boyfriend, disliked by Atlantic City mayor, recorded abuse in video call
A doctor recommended that the boy not be released to his mother but Acosta ended protective custody and let the boy go home with his father. The judge found that Acosta’s reports repeatedly omitted potential signs of abuse, such as marks on the boy’s face and the family’s terrible living conditions. Defense attorneys Rebecca Lee and Jamie Wombacher argued prosecutors and witnesses were speculating and using hindsight of the child’s death to scapegoat Acosta and the state Department of Children and Family Services was violating a court order limiting investigators’ cases.
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